Stephen A. Smith Wakes Up Constantly Thinking He’ll Get Cancelled: ‘I’m On Live Television Ten Hours A Week’

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith constantly reminds himself that he could be the next celebrity canceled because of how much time he spends on live television.

On Wednesday’s edition of his Know Mercy podcast, Smith began to describe his fear that he could ruin his career if he said one wrong thing on any of his platforms.

“We keep finding a reason to ostracize folks,” Smith said. “And on a personal level, make no mistake about it, I wake up every day feeling I’m next.”

Smith described how often he is in the public spotlight. His main show on ESPN, First Take, is on for two hours a day and five days a week. He also hosts an NBA alternate broadcast where he watches an NBA game from his basement called NBA in Stephen A’s World.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m on live television ten hours a week, minimum, live,” Smith said. “No seven-second delay, no tape delay, no anything. The only thing I ever taped is this podcast. Everything else is live!”

Smith elaborated that critics are always out to get him and look for reasons to try and ruin his career.

“I slip up, I’m toast!” Smith continued. “You think people don’t know that? Which is why they try to get at me in the ways that they do on social media or beyond.”

Smith had some questionable takes throughout his television career. Just recently, in 2021, he said that Los Angeles star Shoei Ohtani could not be the face of baseball, and his reasoning was terrible.

“I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation,” Smith said. “But when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter, so you can understand what the hell he’s saying in this country.”

Smith did apologize for those remarks.

Smith did not receive a suspension from ESPN over it, so he may be one of the few who have less to fear from what some call “cancel culture.” Then again, it could be, as he seems to think, only a matter of time.

Listen above via the Know Mercy podcast.